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Nov 27, 2024 | 
jdsupra.com | Rebecca Fike |Paul Hill |Stephen Medlock
After a three-year crackdown on the use of “ephemeral” electronic messaging platforms by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) under Chair Gary Gensler, early indications are that the incoming Trump administration may abandon the Gensler-era practice of repeated industry-wide probes into employee use of off-channel communications. Conducting business in the modern age involves an enormous volume of communication conducted over a wide array of platforms.
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
jdsupra.com | Rebecca Fike |Josh Rutenberg |Paige H. Brinkley
On November 14, 2024, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the SEC’s ability to intervene in shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Rule 14a-8 Proposals”).
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Nov 14, 2024 | 
jdsupra.com | Rebecca Fike |Jason M. Halper |Sara Brauerman
[co-author: Lucia Kang*]On November 8, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced a settled enforcement action (the “SEC Order”) against Invesco Advisers, Inc. (“Invesco”), an investment advisory firm, for making misleading statements concerning the company-wide percentage of assets under management (“AUM”) that integrated environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) factors in investment decisions.
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Nov 8, 2024 | 
velaw.com | Jason M. Halper |Rebecca Fike |Sara Brauerman |Jon Solorzano
According to the SEC Order, beginning in late 2019, Invesco identified the use of ESG considerations across its global investment platform as a commercial imperative and accelerated its “ESG integration” efforts. In support of these efforts, the firm made claims to certain clients and potential clients about Invesco’s firmwide ESG integration of its investment strategies and the percentage of firmwide AUM that was ESG integrated.
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Sep 27, 2024 | 
jdsupra.com | Ami Egerstrom |Rebecca Fike |Stefanie Jackson
On September 16, 2024, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC” or the “Commission”) brought charges against Kubient, Inc.’s (“Kubient”) former chairman and chief executive officer (“CEO”) for allegedly fabricating reports that the company had successfully tested its AI-supported software program, causing the company to overstate and misrepresent its revenue in connection with two public stock offerings.1 While the charges against Paul Roberts, the former CEO are just the...
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Sep 16, 2024 | 
jdsupra.com | Rebecca Fike |Josh Rutenberg |Jon Solorzano
Over the last few months, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) discretely disbanded the Climate and ESG Taskforce (“ESG Task Force”) of its Division of Enforcement. The move follows a wave of recent pushback against ESG by some companies and investors, along with certain U.S. state officials and courts. The ESG Task Force, established in 2021, had been charged by the SEC with identifying ESG-related misconduct and evaluating ESG-related whistleblower complaints.
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Jul 10, 2024 | 
jdsupra.com | Sean Becker |Rebecca Fike |Jeremy C. Marwell
July 10, 2024 July 11th, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm CT Sean Becker, Rebecca Fike, Jeremy Marwell, Kathy Pakenham, William Scherman, Ronald Tenpas Vinson & Elkins LLP + Follow x Following x Following - Unfollow Contact To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog: July 11th, 2024 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM CT Join attorneys in our appellate, energy regulatory, environmental, tax, securities, and employment practices who will explore how these landmark rulings affect administrative law and...
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Jul 1, 2024 | 
jdsupra.com | Palmina Fava |Rebecca Fike |Brian Howard II
For more than a decade, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has been able to bring enforcement actions in either federal court or the agency’s internal venue. Not anymore. On June 27, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a pivotal ruling in the case of SEC v. Jarkesy, significantly curtailing the SEC’s ability to use its administrative proceedings to impose civil penalties for securities fraud.
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Jul 1, 2024 | 
jdsupra.com | Rebecca Fike |Paul Hill
On June 11, 2024, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) charged Illit Raz, the former CEO and founder of the since-shut-down artificial intelligence recruiting startup Joonko Diversity Inc. (“Joonko”), with defrauding investors by making false and misleading statements about a number of items — including the sophistication of the company’s technology.
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Jul 1, 2024 | 
texaslawbook.net | Rebecca Fike |Fry Wernick |Eva Shen
Congress originally created the SEC in 1934 to enforce its recently passed laws designed to combat securities fraud and to increase market transparency. Originally, the SEC could only seek to impose civil penalties on unregistered investment advisers in federal court, but its enforcement authority has evolved significantly over the years through additional legislation.
